Wow, even the introduction is incredible.<p>"Python 3.0 (a.k.a. "Python 3000" or "Py3k") is a new version of the language that is incompatible with the 2.x line of releases. The language is mostly the same, but many details, especially how built-in objects like dictionaries and strings work, have changed considerably, and a lot of deprecated features have finally been removed. Also, the standard library has been reorganized in a few prominent places."<p>I have never seen a release for a new language be so clear and straightforward. That's awesome.
So much cleaner and more consistent. Classic classes are gone for good!<p>Unlike with other languages (which I won't name for fear of offense!) I think Pythonistas will actually migrate to this much improved Python (well, forgetting the 10% performance hit) especially as such focus has been put into making tools to make it easier, unlike with PHP 4->5 (oops..!)
The download link for Python 3.0 is now featured prominently on the front page, above Python 2.6. I think this is a bad move, since many Python newbies will probably download Python 3.0 instead of 2.6, and then get frustrated when none of their 3rd-party packages work. python.org should keep Python 3.0 more hidden away for the time being to give time for the greater Python development community to migrate to 3.0.
I loved it, but I still want better threading and multi-core support in CPython... Most desktops now have two cores and it doesn't seem likely that number will fall anytime soon...
Remember python 3.0 is supposed to be an intermediate for migration release... not for production use. That's what 3.1 is for.<p>It's going to take ages for modules to get converted over... but most projects have been preparing for it for a while. However hopefully the migration scripts will get better over the 3.0 - 3.1 timeline.<p>For now I'm sticking with python 2.5 - since it's the best one considering it's far better module, and platform support.
If I install the 3.0 package on Ubuntu, will the "python" shell command be forced to 3.0? In other words, what are the basics of doing and using a dual 2.x/3.0 installation?
-goldie